Chapter 460 Leaving The Trial
Quickly running over to hug Kuromi so that she didn't fall, Shiro set her down on the bed.
Looking at Kuromi's face, she could see that her expression would flicker to being lifeless for a short amount of time before returning.
"Say… Shiro… What do you think is happening?" Kuromi asked slowly.
Gritting her teeth, Shiro stayed silent.
'System! I don't want this reward! If my grade is S, don't you dare take my sister!!!' Shiro shouted out in her mind as rage filled her heart.
She finally had someone she could truly call a family in this world and yet the system wanted to take her away in the name of 'reward' and fixing her soul? She didn't need that if it meant losing someone like Kuromi.
"*Sigh* Don't make that face." Kuromi sighed with a small smile.
She could already guess what was happening since it was something she predicted a while back.
A solo trial where she would also follow was strange to begin with. When the soul strands proved that they were incomplete made things all the more obvious since she was in a way, damaging Shiro's soul by not being one with her.
It was quite clear at the start so she had been taking the time to write down everything she knew in all of her notebooks so that Shiro could understand what she had gone through along with tips on being a mage.
"But big sis…" Shiro frowned.
"It's ok. I've known that this would happen for a while now." Kuromi shook her head.
Balling her hands into a fist, Shiro thought about what she could do.
'System! Oi System! Reject this reward right now! I don't need it!' She shouted out once more in hopes of getting a response but nothing had happened.
"Shiro… I've enjoyed staying with you during our time in the trial. While it may have been short, it was also sweet. I just wish I could have spent more time with you along with my family in the real world. Keomi and Keiko are both lonely girls that were neglected due to my talent so I tried my best to be with them. But now that I'm gone, the family must be pressuring the two of them quite a bit. Their good points are dimmed down as a task they should have done while their mistakes are enlarged for everyone to scrutinise at. I know I said this before but please look after them." Kuromi smiled sadly as Shiro could only nod.
With the system not responding to her calls, she couldn't help but feel a little useless right now. She felt as though she couldn't do anything.
Just as she was about to speak, a head splitting pain assaulted her mind as her body twitched in agony. Feeling memories flood into her mind, she knew that this was what Kuromi had experienced.
Quickly looking up, she was greeted with an empty bed…
Silence.
With Kuromi's memories flooding her mind, she could feel her emotions during the short time that they were together.
Feeling a sense of familial love and care behind each memory, Shiro couldn't help but plant her face against the bed covers as tears started to fall.
Quiet sobs could be heard as Shiro had never felt this helpless apart from the time in the labs. The only thing that has changed was that she now had power and was more mature but the helpless feeling was the same.
[As the rewards have been distributed, Entity – Shiro, will now be sent out of the trial and undergo class up.]
Seeing the notification, killing intent surged out of Shiro's body as her bloodshot eyes glared at the system with hatred and anger.
Gritting her teeth, a desire to completely destroy the system appeared in her mind.
However, for her to save everyone else that she cared about in the coming age of demons and gods, she had no choice but to use the system in order protect everyone.
Staying silent, her face became cold and emotionless while she waited for her to be brought back to the real world.
'Why do you do this to me system? Is it fun? Why do you present to me the feeling of a caring big sister only to take it away from me after all this time? What did you have to gain from this? Was it a whim? If that's the case, why did she come with me to begin with? You should have just let me do everything alone.'
Seeing the system not respond to her questions once more, Shiro closed her eyes.
'Of course you won't answer. Out of the billions of people that use you, I'm just one in the crowd. Who cares about the ant you accidentally step on when you walk. You don't even notice them. All that happens is your shoe crushes them to bits without a care of their family or connects. A cold killer. That is you. Whoever created you doesn't notice everyone. You're like that shoe which kills without a second thought. All that you do is carry out your orders. If he walks you walk. If he stops, you stop.'
Sighing softly, Shiro was hit by the reality that she was still one of the crowd. There could be hundreds if not thousands of people around the world right now that are more talented or powerful than she was. If she failed to prove herself like in the labs, she would just be a star that shined slightly brighter.
'There is no free food in this world. If you desire something, take it by your own hands. Don't rely on the system as it is but another carnivorous being who watches as you hunt for it. The treasures are tempting but the price of treasures are life threatening. Use the system but don't rely on it. Make everything you learned yours. Memorise the construction of spells by yourself and not through a system skill. The system is but a proxy, stopping you from achieving true power. If the system was to disappear, so will the spells but not the experience.'
Falling into a small slumber of sorts, her body started to change ever so slightly with the addition of her soul being fixed.
Her reservoir of Celestial Energy started to connect to her mana pool as the two started to merge together.
Her links, that were previously shattered, are now sewn together by her soul strands which fixed the cracks and repaired her links back to pristine condition.
###
Outside in the real world, a pillar of light shot up into the sky as the gateway started to close.
Understanding that this phenomenon was clearly irregular and that people who were still undergoing their trial were forcefully ejected out, the adventurers quickly called upon the authorities to check on this situation.
Looking at the pillar of light, they realised that it was no normal pillar of light. It was in fact a giant stack of magic circles that when layered together, formed the illusion of a pillar. There were a few mages that took this chance to analyse the situation but couldn't translate any of the runes much to their confusion.
However, the spirits around the place were jubilant. While they hadn't fully developed sentience, they knew that this was an event to be joyful about.
Their queen had now returned and now she's gone a step above to become an empress.
As the empress gets stronger, so will the spirits.
For those in the spirit country hidden in the world, they could clearly feel their strength shoot up as those who were stuck in the higher levels were given 10 levels for free.
"How could this be… 10 levels at once? Not even the previous queens were able to cause this kind of phenomenon!" A spirit muttered as she stood up in her room.
Since they had actually levelled up by 10 levels in one go, this must mean that their queen must have just experienced an upgrade. For a change such as this, the signs of evolutions can not be easily hidden away so they must take this chance to locate the queen.
"Quickly! Send our scouts out into the world! Look for our queen and bring her to safety! The world is dangerous and we cannot let her wonder the world alone!"
While this was all happening, Shiro was undergoing her class up.
[Class upgrade: Mystic Sylph Queen (SSS) -> True Celestial Sylph Empress (EX)]